I need to make room for confession that goes deeper than my grimy kitchen floor and messy desk, for love that starts with the mundane work that sustains my family and my career but ends somewhere else—somewhere less cluttered, with more room for possibility.

When an early Easter will likely dawn gray and cold, snow still on the ground and kids still sniffling, when our colorful Easter clothes will be hidden under damp wool and dingy down jackets, when the earth’s transformation from winter to spring will appear only tentatively, obscured, then what of our transformation? Perhaps an early Easter is a truer reflection of how resurrection usually manifests, faltering and barely noticeable—a slightly higher slant of light, a whiff of damp soil carried on a chill wind, a patch of grass at the yard’s edge where the snow has begun to melt. I am desperate these days for transformation, for obvious and spectacular change in body, mind, and spirit. Especially body. But tenuous and equivocal transformation may be the best I can get.

I go back to the paradox that our bodies both betray us and reflect our deepest, God-given self. I think of the broken, brutalized body of Christ on the cross, as he suffered through pain that was both horrific—a reflection of all that is wrong with this world—and redeemed—a means for God's grace to be revealed in a new, world-changing way.

One of the best books I’ve read over the past couple of years, of any kind, was the beautiful, moving, and hard sort-of-spiritual memoir, Love and Salt: A Spiritual Friendship in Letters by Amy Andrews and Jessica Griffith. Amy and Jess started writing to one another during Lent 2005, when Amy was preparing to convert to Catholicism [Read More...]

Spring has fully sprung here in Connecticut. I am a New Englander at heart who feels a bit cheated by the seasons this year. Our worst snowstorm came in October (and it was a doozy, knocking out power to our entire town for more than a week), after whi...

I am a writer who focuses on faith, family, disability, and ethics. For a full bio, see the "About" page of this web site. Links to published work are available on the "Publications" page. I also speak regularly at conferences and for church, community, and student groups. The "Events" page lists upcoming events and more information about having me speak at your event. I also have extensive experience doing copyediting of many kinds of publications, including articles, books, and academic dissertations or theses. Please contact me to discuss your project.

By adding your e-mail address in the box below, you will be added to my mailing list. I will send out occasional e-mail newsletters to inform you of new publications, speaking engagements, and other events of interest to readers. I will never share your e-mail address with anyone else without your permission. Note: If you wish to subscribe to my blog via e-mail (which means you'll get an e-mail every time I post something new on the blog), you need to do that on the blog itself. Click on the blue "W" icon above to go to my blog.

"Part memoir, part theological treatise, [No Easy Choice] offers a refreshingly candid and nuanced grappling with assisted reproduction...This well-written, insightful account should serve as a
resource to anyone who ponders the intersection of medicine, ethics, and parenthood."—Publishers WeeklyRead More »